President Obama Says Jesus Knew Doubt and Fear...

(excerpt taken from Townhall.com) ".....During his six-minute speech to about 150 people Wednesday (April 4) in the East Room, Obama referred to the suffering Jesus endured.

"For like us, Jesus knew doubt. Like us, Jesus knew fear," he said.

Describing Christ's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the president said, "He fell to His knees, pleading with His Father, saying, 'If it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me.' And yet, in the end, He confronted His fear with words of humble surrender, saying, 'If it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.'"

Obama added, "We all have experiences that shake our faith. There are times where we have questions for God's plan relative to us, but that's precisely when we should remember Christ's own doubts and eventually His own triumph."

Denny Burk, associate professor of biblical studies at Boyce College in Louisville, Ky., said he appreciates the president's effort to "highlight the courage of Jesus," but that Obama's description of Christ experiencing doubt and fear in ways other human beings do is foreign to Scripture.

Using numerous New Testament passages to explain his position, Burk said, "In the Bible, doubt and fear are sins.

"To say that Jesus had doubts and fears is to make Him into a transgressor," Burk wrote in a commentary on his blog. "But that is not at all the biblical depiction of Jesus. Yes, Jesus can sympathize with all of our weaknesses and, yes, was tempted in all things as we are. But He did it without sin!"

Despite His suffering, Jesus "never doubted His Father, and never feared man," Burk said.

Christ knew in advance the physical pain He would undergo, the forsakenness by friends He would experience and the wrath of God He would bear by dying on a cross in the place of sinners, Burk said. Yet, He "was motivated by joy to endure the cross," Burk wrote, citing Hebrews 12:2.

"Jesus saw right through the cross to the resurrection on the other side," he said. "You and I may fear death, but Jesus never did. You and I may doubt God's purposes in suffering, but Jesus never did. Ever! What was definitive for Jesus was the joy set before Him, not death."

Burk wrote, "The model that Jesus gives us is not that He had doubts and fears like we do. The model that He gives us is perfection."

Thoughts? Comments? I'm too new to Bible study and being Christian to have a sound commentary on this, but it interested me and even concerned me that it would be interpreted that Jesus had doubts and fears. I'd like to read what others have to say on this matter.

Since Obama is not even a Christian it is impossible for him to discern spiritual things from the Word of God, therefore I automatically dismiss anything he has to say on the matter anyway.

Absolutely, why should we then even be worried about what he has commented on Jesus and have a discussion on this. I am not even expecting him to understand the Cup that bothered Jesus. No way he can get a revelation on this.

And what is it that KK and approved disagree with Burk on?

He likes to give nice little "Christian"-sounding soundbites in an attempt to win over Evangelicals. It's all part of the political strategy. And his cronies probably write those speaches FOR him. Anyone who thinks the man is a born again Christian is a fool. And btw, Muslims also believe in the historical "Jesus", they just don't believe He is God, etc.

For those who are tempted to be fooled by the Obama messiah,
let's go over his first two major acts after he took office:
1. He repealed the ban on partial-birth abortion (a barbaric form of infanticide)
2. He declared a national LBGT day for the sexually immoral.
He only left out heterosexual fornicators, pedophiles, and adulterers and forgot to declare a special day for them....maybe that is coming his next term.

Although Jesus was indeed all man His heart was in unison with the Father's (John 5:19).  Jesus' life was threatened several times before His crucifixion.  Within two chapters in John's gospel the Jews sought to stone Him twice (John 8 and 10) and we see no evidence of fear.  Why?  Because He knew the script for His life from the very beginning and lived His life with the purpose for which He was born and confronted evil unafraid.  So why did He travail in the garden?  Approved is right in that for the first time in all eternity as Jesus hung on the cross  (and the last time, by the way) Jesus was separated from the Father and knew the moment was near.  Recall the time of your salvation when everything was new and fresh, your life completely transformed, and God was so alive in your heart.  At that moment if you were challenged with death compared to separation from the life you've just received and relationship with God like you never knew possible what would concern you?  And we must understand that our revelation of God is but a microcosm of the glory that Jesus walked in.  My dear brethren, He travailed for two reasons.  He knew the hour had come where the sky would go dark and the earth tremble as He would bare our sin upon Himself and cry out "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?".  I don't think our hearts can bare the full weight of that moment as mere men.  Secondly, He anguished in the garden for a people that although He departed from heaven to walk among them and reveal the fullness of the Father to them would reject Him.  See Luke 19, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, He wept over it.  Do you think He knew the people for which He came would reject Him?  Of course He did and yet He wept.  How greatly must the culmination of that burden weighed on Him during the final moments of His natural life.  

I am so thankful for a Savior who loves so great as to be so broken.

Happy Easter all!

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QUOTE:
He likes to give nice little "Christian"-sounding soundbites in an attempt to win over Evangelicals. It's all part of the political strategy. And his cronies probably write those speaches FOR him.
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My thoughts exactly.

And I had additional thoughts.

I wondered if the Holy Spirit will not in time use these very words he spoke to convict him? Could happen - it has happened before.

A notorious incident of this occurred when D.R.Van Sickle penned the song "All Hail, to Thee Immanuel". Here is a quote from cyberhymnal concerning Van Sickle: "D. R. Van Sick­le, 1910, alt. Van Sick­le, a non­be­liev­er, wrote the song to prove that one doesn’t have to be a Christ­ian to write a Christ­ian song. How­ev­er, God, with His great pa­tience, turned the ta­bles on him. Years lat­er, Van Sickle was sit­ting in a serv­ice where a choir sang his hymn. He came under con­vict­ion and gave his heart to Christ!"

Do you not just love that? I do.

Want to read the words? Here they are:

All hail to Thee, Immanuel, we cast our crowns before Thee;
Let every heart obey Thy will, and every voice adore Thee.
In praise to Thee, our Savior King, the vibrant chords of Heaven ring,
And echo back the mighty strain: All hail! All hail! All hail Immanuel!

Refrain

Hail to the King we love so well! Immanuel! Immanuel!
Hail to the King we love so well! Immanuel! Immanuel!
Glory and honor and majesty, wisdom and power be unto Thee,
Now and evermore!
Hail to the King we love so well! Immanuel! Immanuel!
Hail to the King we love so well! Immanuel! Immanuel!
King of kings and Lord of lords, all hail, Immanuel!

All hail to Thee, Immanuel, the ransomed hosts surround Thee;
And earthly monarchs clamor forth their sovereign King to crown Thee.
While those redeemed in ages gone, assembled round the great white throne,
Break forth into immortal song: All hail! All hail! All hail Immanuel!

Refrain

All hail to Thee, Immanuel, our risen King and Savior!
Thy foes are vanquished, and Thou art omnipotent forever.
Death, sin and hell no longer reign, and Satan’s pow’r is burst in twain;
Eternal glory to Thy Name: All hail! All hail! All hail Immanuel!

Refrain
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It is a beautiful song - I suggest you take a listen located at the site I referred to.

ginnyrose

In posting this thread, my thoughts were on two things: Who was doing the speaking on this subject of Jesus and What was said. The "who" concerned me because he's the leader of our nation and as such, what he says goes into the ears of many and not everyone is as discerning as we would hope. The "what" concerned me because to say that Jesus knew "doubt" demonstrates this leader's epic failure to appear knowledgable in a spiritual matter and gross underestimation of being called on it. I find it hard to believe that his advisors even let him speak what he did.

Anyhow, I'm grateful this article came to light because it made me delve into the Word and study Jesus's agony in the garden for myself. My own study coupled with the insight of bretheren here made this year's Good Friday the most meaningful day this Christian has experienced since becoming born again. Praise be to God!

Isaiah 42:4 "He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

bear,

I did a check on the web concerning Romney being a freemason and the results are not conclusive at all.

I also did a web check on Obama being a freemason and I got the same results: none conclusive.

SIGH.

Thanks for the scripture, White-Stone. Psalm 2 is another beautiful one on this matter. Jesus was fully persuaded of His coming victory, and His faith never wavered. And even today, as the whole world wallows in sin and wickedness, He is not disheartened. Rather, he waits patiently (or rather, He laughs from His throne) until all His enemies be made his footstool.

I however do not doubt that as a man, he experienced grief, pain, sorrow etc.; emotions that exist because this is a fallen world. I do not doubt that these were His feelings in the garden of Gethsemane, where he told His disciples that He was exceedingly sorrowful, even to the point of death.

Anyway, while I know not all the dynamics of Christ's life on earth, I praise God for a wonderful savior, who is able and mighty to save. I praise God that even though my sin is very great, He took it upon Himself. He is the Lamb of God.

ginnyrose, I laughed at the story. In the end, God always wins!